NCAA Eligibility | NAIA Eligibilty | Eligibilty Center | NIL Info | Recruiting Basics | Scholarship Basics | Letter of Intent Info | Resources
Students wishing to continue on with athletics in college are encouraged to begin research early in the process surrounding athletic eligibility and transitioning from high school to college athletics. As soon as a student believes he/she may wish to participate in college athletics at the NCAA DI, DII, or NAIA levels, it is the responsibility of the student/family to communicate this to the student's counselor so that the counselor can assist the family through the process of course selection based on the requirements of these athletic associations.
Important reminders for student athletes and their parents:
- Students should review academic standards required to participate in collegiate athletics in NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA. If students fail to meet those requirements, they may not be eligible to play college level sports immediately after graduation.
- Each athletic association operates under different rules and policies, including when and how often a coach can contact an athlete. Be aware of these rules!
- Admission to a college or university is separate from being selected for a college team. Students still must complete the college application process, adhering to the deadlines established by the Admissions Office.
- Students should speak to their high school coaches by at least junior year to discuss likely options for post-high school athletics.
NCAA Eligibility
In order to play Division I or Division II college athletics, high school students must meet first-year eligibility requirements. The NCAA Eligibility Center is the organization that determines if a student meets the eligibility criteria. Students must complete the NCAA Clearinghouse in order to play D1 or D2 college athletics.
Students are deemed eligible if they meet the standards set forth in the following areas: high school academic record (approved courses and GPA), ACT/SAT scores, and any key information about amateur participation. Students who wish to participate in Division I or II athletics should prepare to meet eligibility requirements as they begin high school, and should register online at the NCAA Eligibility Center during sophomore year of high school.
While Division III schools do not offer athletics scholarships, 75 percent of Division III student-athletes receive some form of merit or need-based financial aid. If you are planning to attend a Division III school, only college-bound international student-athletes need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Division III schools set their own admissions standards. Click here for more information.
How to Determine Your NCAA Eligibility
- Take classes that match your high school’s NCAA List of Approved Core Courses. The NCAA Eligibility Center will only use approved core courses to certify your initial eligibility.
- Lindbergh indicates which courses are NCAA approved in our Course Offerings Book. However, you can access and print our high school’s NCAA List of Approved Core Courses at THIS LINK and enter Lindbergh's CEEB code: 262980.
A brief summary of eligibility requirements for NCAA D1 and D2 is outlined below.
| NCAA DIVISION 1 |
NCAA DIVISION 2 |
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Full Qualifier
A college-bound student-athlete who may receive athletics aid (scholarship), practice and compete in the first year of enrollment at the Division I college or university.
- Complete 16 Core Courses in eight academic semesters or four consecutive academic years from the start of ninth grade. If you graduate from high school early, you still must meet core-course requirements.. 10 of the 16 core courses must be completed before the seventh semester (senior year) of high school. Once you begin your seventh semester, any course that is needed to meet the 10/7 requirement cannot be replaced or repeated.
- Seven of the 10 core courses must be in English, Math or Science.
- Minimum core-course GPA of 2.300. (Your core course GPA consists of grades ONLY from high school courses that are on an approved core course list on the NCAA website.)
- Meet the sliding scale requirement of GPA and ACT/SAT score. Review the sliding scale to ensure your score meets Division I requirements.
- Graduate from high school.
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Full Qualifier
A college-bound student-athlete who may receive athletics aid (scholarship), practice and compete in the first year of enrollment at the Division II college or university.
- Complete 16 Core Courses in the following areas:
- Three years of English.
- Two years of mathematics (Algebra I or higher).
- Two years of natural/physical science (1 year of lab).
- Two years of social science.
- Three years of additional English, mathematics, or science.
- Four years of additional courses (from any area above or foreign language).
- Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.200. (Your core course GPA consists of grades ONLY from high school courses that are on an approved core course list on the NCAA website.)
- Earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score that matches your core-course GPA (minimum 2.200) on the Division II full-qualifier sliding scale.
- Graduate from high school
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Academic Redshirt
A college-bound student-athlete who may receive athletics aid (scholarship) in the first year of enrollment and may participate in the first regular academic term (semester or quarter) but may NOT compete in the first year of enrollment. After the first term is complete, the college-bound student-athlete must be academically successful at his/her college or university to continue to practice for the rest of the year.
- Complete 16 core courses.
- Minimum core-course GPA of 2.000.
- Meet the Academic Redshirt sliding scale requirement of GPA and ACT/SAT score.
- Graduate from high school.
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Partial Qualifier
A college-bound student-athlete who may receive scholarships during their first year of enrollment, practice during the first regular academic term, but may NOT compete during the first year of enrollment.
- Complete 16 core courses (same as above for Full Qualifier)
- Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.000. (Your core course GPA consists of grades ONLY from high school courses that are on an approved core course list on the NCAA website.)
- Earn the ACT/SAT score matching your core-course GPA on the Division II partical qualifier sliding scale.
- Graduate from high school.
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NonQualifier
A college-bound student-athlete who cannot receive athletics aid (scholarship), cannot practice and cannot compete in the first year of enrollment.
- Does not meet requirements for Full Qualifier or Academic Redshirt status.
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NonQualifier
A college-bound student-athlete who cannot receive athletics aid (scholarship), cannot practice and cannot compete in the first year of enrollment.
- Does not meet requirements for Full Qualifier or Partial Qualifier status.
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Below is an outline for students in each grade who are considering playing NCAA D1 or D2 sports:
Grade 9
- Start planning now! Register for a free Profile Page account at eligibilitycenter.org for information on NCAA initial-eligibility requirements.
- Find your high school’s list of NCAA-approved core courses at eligibilitycenter.org/courselist to ensure you are taking the right courses, and earn the best grades possible.
Grade 10
- If you are being actively recruited by an NCAA school and have a Profile Page account, transition it to the right Certification account.
- Monitor the task list in your NCAA Eligibility Center account for next steps.
- At the end of the school year, ask your high school counselor from each school you have attended to upload an official transcript to your Eligibility Center account.
- If you fall behind academically, ask your high school counselor for help finding approved courses you can take.
Grade 11
- Ensure your sports participation information is correct in your Eligibility Center account.
- Check with your high school counselor to make sure you are on track to complete the required number of NCAA-approved core courses and graduate on time with your class.
- At the end of the school year, ask your high school counselor from each school you have attended to upload an official transcript to your Eligibility Center account.
Grade 12
What is the fee to register?
The registration fee for U.S. students is $75
The NCAA eligibility process also protects the fairness and integrity of college sports by ensuring student-athletes are amateurs. When you register for a Certification account with the NCAA Eligibility Center, you will be asked a series of questions about your sports participation to determine your amateur status. In some instances, the NCAA Eligibility Center staff may need to gather additional information to evaluate your amateur status. To be eligible, all prospective student-athletes also need their amateurism certified.
NCAA Clearinghouse Info Session
NAIA Eligibility
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Eligibility Center is responsible for determining the NAIA eligibility of first-time student-athletes.
Students must meet two of the requirements:
- Cumulative GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale
- ACT of 18 or SAT of 970 Critical Reading and Math
- Class rank in top 50% of graduating class
- If no class rank is on the transcript, nine college credits can be used in place of this requirement. (Effective May 1, 2020.)
Students may register online at the NAIA Eligibility Center
NAIA does charge a fee for registration.
What do I need to know about the Eligibility Center?
You need to be certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center to compete at an NCAA Division I or II school. Create a Certification Account and the staff at the NCAA Eligibility Center will guide you through the process. You need to create a Certification Account to make official visits to Divisions I and II schools or to sign a National Letter of Intent.
Create a free Profile Page if you plan to compete at a Division III school or are not yet sure where you want to compete. You'll get an NCAA ID, and we will send you important reminders as you complete high school.
NAIA does not utilize the NCAA Eligibility Center. Registering with the NAIA Eligibility Center is required for all first-time NAIA student-athletes. It only takes a few minutes to register. The fee to register is $90 for students coming directly from high school, $135 for transfer students, and $150 for international students. For U.S. students with demonstrated need, a fee waiver system is in place.
What do I need to know about Name, Image and Likeness (NIL)?
Prospective student-athletes may engage in the same types of NIL opportunities available to current student-athletes under the interim NIL policy without impacting their NCAA eligibility. NIL opportunities may not be used as a recruiting inducement or as a substitute for pay-for-play. Individuals are encouraged to consider state laws, if applicable, and the rules of any relevant amateur governing bodies. A "Name, Image and Likeness activity" is an activity that involves the use of an individual's name, image and likeness for commercial or promotional purposes.
Check Out:
NCAA NIL Policy Q & A
CIF NIL Policy
What do I need to know about athletic recruiting?
During the NCAA recruiting process it is highly encouraged that a prospective student-athlete visit college campuses. Below are some important terms each prospective student-athlete should know about NCAA visits campus.
Unofficial visit: Any visit by you and your parents to a college campus paid for by you or your parents. The only expense you may receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a Division I home athletics contest or five complimentary admissions to a Division II home athletics contest. You may make as many unofficial visits as you like after the first permissible date in each sport. The only time you cannot talk with a coach during an unofficial visit is during a dead period. In Division I, it is not permissible to make an official visit during a recruiting shutdown period or a dead period. In Division III, you may receive one on-campus meal as well as admission to a home athletics event for you and those accompanying you.
Official visit: During an official visit, the college can pay for transportation to and from the college for you (and up to two family members in Division I Basketball and FBS Football), lodging and meals (Division I allows for up to three meals per day) for you and up to four family members, as well as reasonable entertainment expenses, including five tickets to a Division I or Division II home sports event. Before a Division I or II college may invite you on an official visit, you will have to provide the college with a copy of your high school transcript and register for a Certification account with the NCAA Eligibility Center. In Division I, it is not permissible to make an official visit during a recruiting shutdown period or a dead period.
During the recruiting process, a prospective student-athlete or family members of a prospective student-athlete may directly or indirectly encounter a college coach. Per NCAA bylaws, there are permissible dates and times when college coaches are permitted to send correspondence, make phone calls and have off-campus contact with prospective student-athletes (and their family members). Below are some important terms regarding off-campus contacts.
Contact: A contact happens any time a college coach says more than "Hello" during a face-to-face meeting with you or your parents off the college's campus.
Evaluation: An evaluation happens when a college coach observes you practicing or competing.
Recruiting calendar: NCAA member schools limit recruiting to certain periods during the year. Recruiting calendars promote the well-being of college-bound student-athletes and ensure fairness among schools by defining certain periods during the year in which recruiting may or may not occur in a particular sport. Recruiting calendars may consist of the following: contact periods, evaluation periods, quiet periods, dead periods, and recruiting shutdowns.
Contact period: During a contact period, a college coach may have face-to-face contact with you or your parents, watch you compete, visit your high school and call or write to you or your parents.
Evaluation period: During an evaluation period, a college coach may watch you compete, visit your high school and call or write to you or your parents. However, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with you or your parents off the college's campus during an evaluation period.
Quiet period: During this time, a college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents off the college's campus. A coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this time. A coach may call or write to you or your parents during this time.
Dead period: A college coach may not have any face-to-face contact with you or your parents on or off the college campus at any time during a dead period. The coach may call or write you or your parents during this time.
Recruiting shutdown: A recruiting shutdown is a period of time when no forms of recruiting (e.g., contacts, evaluations, official or Division I unofficial visits, correspondence, or making or receiving telephone calls) are permissible.
Check Out:
Important Recruiting Terms
NCAA Division I Recruiting Calendars
NCAA Recruiting Facts
What do I need to know about athletic scholarships?
NCAA athletic scholarships
Division I Athletic Scholarships: A student-athlete may receive athletic aid, as well as non-athletic aid, up to the cost of attendance, as dictated by the institution. A student-athlete must meet all eligibility requirements qualifying them to receive athletic aid. Division I schools may provide student-athletes with multiyear scholarships. Additionally, Division I schools may pay for student-athletes to finish their bachelor's or master's degrees after they finish playing NCAA sports.
If a school plans to reduce or not renew a student-athlete's aid, the school must notify the student-athlete in writing by July 1 and provide an opportunity to appeal. In most cases, coaches decide who receives a scholarship, the scholarship amount, and whether it will be renewed.
For the purpose of awarding athletic scholarships, NCAA DI sports are categorized as either "headcount" or "equivalency" for athletic scholarship purposes. If a sport is a "head count" sport then that sport is limited to providing aid to a maximum number of counters. Each counter can receive up to a full scholarship.
An "equivalency sport" on the other hand, provides a limit on the value (equivalency) of financial aid awards that an institution may provide in any academic year to any number of individuals on the roster ("counters"). Individuals may receive a full scholarship which covers tuition and fees, room, board and course-related books, however, most student-athletes who receive athletics scholarships on equivalency sports receive an amount covering only a portion of these costs.
DII Athletic Scholarships: Division II relies on a partial-scholarship model to administer athletics-based financial aid. Very few of the thousands of student-athletes competing in Division II will receive a full athletics grant that covers all of their expenses, but most of them will receive some athletics-based financial aid to help them through school. For the rest of their expenses, student-athletes use academic scholarships, student loans and employment earnings just like most other students attending the school.
The partial-scholarship model allows Division II schools to recognize student-athletes for their skills through athletics-based aid, while at the same time keeping athletics budgets more in line with the institution’s bottom line. It costs Division II schools about half as much to sponsor a competitive athletics program as it does in Division I. The net operating costs in Division II even tend to be lower than for programs of similar size in Division III (primarily because of higher net operating revenues in Division II).
DIII Athletic Scholarships: While Division III schools do not offer athletics scholarships, 80% of Division III student-athletes receive some form of merit or need-based financial aid.
A walk on is someone who is not typically recruited by a school to participate in sports and does not receive a scholarship from the school, but who becomes a member of one of the school's athletics teams.
NAIA athletic scholarships: In the NAIA, each sport has an upper limit for the amount of institutional aid allowed per school. The school may choose to divide the scholarships among student-athletes*, so long as the total does not exceed the limit for the sport.
The total amount of scholarship money a team has available is equal to (the average cost of attendance at the school) multiplied by (the above limit for scholarships). The team/athletic department may then divide that total amount of money amongst varsity team members however it chooses.
Check Out:
NAIA Financial Aid Guidelines
The chart below shows the scholarship limits for all men's and women's teams at every level as well as the average athletic scholarship awarded (data from 2022-23).
What is the National Letter of Intent?
The NCAA manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) provides governance oversight of the program. Started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions, the program now includes 652 Division I and Division II participating institutions.
The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the NLI and no institution is required to join the program.
The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution.
- A prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
- The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
The penalty for not fulfilling the NLI agreement: A student-athlete has to serve one year in residence (full-time, two semesters or three quarters) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.
An important provision of the NLI program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs the NLI. This prohibition requires member institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once an NLI is signed with another institution.
What is the difference between the NLI and a "verbal commitment"?
A verbal commitment happens when you verbally agree to play sports for a college before you sign or are eligible to sign a National Letter of Intent. The commitment is not binding on you or the school.
Check Out:
Quick Reference Guide to the NLI
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
COLLEGE ATHLETE PANEL
We interviewed 7 former LHS student-athletes who are playing at various levels of collegiate athletics. We asked them about their recruiting process, what life as a college athlete is like, and asked for advice to give to potential collegiate student-athletes. Listen in to the video to hear what they had to say.
